Excerpts from a 2002 Defense Department document advising military public-affairs officers on how to answer questions related to tests at Dugway and elsewhere. The Utah-based Deseret Test Center was the coordinating site for 50 tests involving 5,841 service members in Utah, in several other states and at locations at sea.

• "A DOD investigative team found that actual chemical and biological warfare agents and simulants for these agents were used in some of these tests."

• "As DOD's investigators continued their examination of the facts associated with these tests, it became clear that an investigation of all the tests conducted by the Deseret Test Center was necessary."

• "While some may be concerned about a possible connection between an exposure in the 1960s or 1970s and a later illness, DOD investigators have not identified a link to these tests and adverse health consequences."

• "Records to show that test operators of land-based tests were informed of the substances being used and were required to take special protective precautions. These substances were not used near areas where unprotected civilians could be endangered."

• "Our investigation has not revealed any cases of illness related to exposures at the time of the tests. To date we have found no evidence in VA or DOD records that anyone has died as a result of exposures during any Deseret Test Center test."

• "The Department of Defense has policies in place in the 1960s based on the Nuremberg code to obtain informed consent from human research subjects. Then, as now, those standards apply when the purpose of the research is to determine the effect of some intervention on humans. These tests were not for that purpose; they were operational tests of munitions, equipment, decontamination methods and the like."

• "The purpose of the land-based tests was to learn more about how chemical or biological agents behave under a variety of climatic, environmental and use conditions."

• "Chemical warfare nerve agents are persistent for hours to weeks. Biological warfare agents are persistent for hours and are generally killed by sunlight. Chemical warfare simulants are not recognized to have an environmental impact. Biological warfare simulants tend to be ubiquitous in nature and are not recognized to have an environmental impact."

• "Little is known about the long-term effects of the chemical agents, and symptoms arising from the biological agents would only be expected to occur soon after exposure."

• "Tests of warfare agents were conducted in remote locations under closely monitored meteorological conditions with sampling stations and security to ensure that non-tests personnel were not inadvertently exposed."

• "Dugway Proving Ground has long had a cooperative relationship with the Utah state government concerning its testing activities and the protection of the state environment."

• "The tests facilities at Dugway are vast and were carefully operated under strict meteorological and security controls to ensure hazardous materials did not migrate off the installation. This included exhaustive studies of animal and plant disease and migration patterns to ensure that new diseases were not introduced into the ecosystem."

• "We are unaware of any claims for compensation arising from these activities other than those filed with the VA."